Updated
All four prosecutors running the criminal case
against a former adviser to Donald Trump have stepped down after the US
President intervened in the case.
Key points:
- Mr Trump publicly complained that Roger Stone was being treated unfairly
- Hours after his complaint, the Justice Department backed away from its previous sentencing recommendation
- Stone has been found guilty on seven counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering
Federal prosecutors had recommended seven to nine years in prison for Mr Trump's former adviser Roger Stone, after he was found guilty of obstructing justice and witness tampering.
Mr Trump criticised the proposed sentence as a "miscarriage of justice" early on Tuesday.
He later told reporters that he did not speak to the Justice Department, but added: "I'd be able to do it if I wanted. I have the absolute right to do it. I stay out of things. I thought the recommendation was ridiculous".
Within hours the Justice Department backed away from its recommended jail time.
In a new court filing, a Justice Department official who had not previously worked on the case called the previous recommendation "excessive and unwarranted", and said the department would not make a formal recommendation on how much time Stone should serve.
The filing said the department would leave it up to the court to decide an appropriate sentence.
The move prompted the four prosecutors who won Stone's conviction — Aaron Zelinsky, John Crabb, Michael Marando and Jonathan Kravis — to withdraw from the case.
Mr Kravis told the court in a filing he was not only leaving the case but quitting his post as a federal prosecutor.
Stone, a veteran Republican operative, has a friendship with Mr Trump that dates back decades.
Last year Stone was found guilty on seven counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.
A self-styled "dirty trickster" and "agent provocateur" who famously has the face of former president Richard Nixon tattooed on his back, Stone was one of several Trump associates charged with crimes as part of Robert Mueller's investigation into extensive Russian interference in the 2016 election.
'They are turning us into a banana republic'
Democrats blasted the department's shift in the high-profile case, accusing the Justice Department of working to protect Mr Trump's political interests.Legal experts described the department's move as highly unusual.
"The President seems to think the entire Justice Department is just his personal lawsuit to prosecute his enemies and help his friends," Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said.
"They are turning us into a banana republic," Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen tweeted.
Senator Schumer called for an investigation into the sentencing recommendations.
To the DOJ Inspector General:
I’m calling for an immediate investigation of why the Roger Stone sentencing recommendations by career prosecutors were countermanded.
The American people must have confidence that justice in this country is dispensed impartially.
I’m calling for an immediate investigation of why the Roger Stone sentencing recommendations by career prosecutors were countermanded.
The American people must have confidence that justice in this country is dispensed impartially.
Legal experts said it was unusual for prosecutors to change their proposed sentence after filing a formal recommendation to the court, especially on a high-profile case like this in which senior Justice Department officials as well as courtroom prosecutors were involved in the decision-making.
But several experts said the original proposed sentence had struck them as unusually severe.
Stone's defence team had earlier proposed a range of between 15 and 21 months in jail.
US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is due to sentence Stone on February 20.
ABC/wires
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